Just lovely. Abu G. is apparently not done with his political purge of the U.S. Attorneys across the United States.
According to TPMMuckraker, Margaret Chiara will be stepping down effective March 16, 2007, one more notch in Abu G.'s belt.
Since there has been no apparent performance issue, in spite of Deputy USAG Paul McNulty's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee a couple weeks ago, what is it about Margaret Chiara that threatens this Administration?
There have been rumors circulating that only hardcore Kool-Aid drinkers were wanted in the USA offices for numerous reasons. Some of them are obvious, as in the case of Tim Griffin, replacing H. E. "Bud" Cummins in Arkansas; Griffin is a known Republican operative with background in opposition research, and may have been placed in AR in advance of the presidential primary in order to some background research on Hillary Clinton.
If this is the case, taxpayers regardless of political affiliation are subsidizing a single party, a blatant theft of taxpayer dollars.
There are other reasons why USA's may have been targeted; in the case of the Gonzalez Seven, dismissed in December 2006, more than half of the USA's were investigating corruption charges against Republicans. Carol Lam of California had prosecuted Duke Cunningham and may have been investigating Rep. Jerry Lewis, for example.
But what is it about Margaret Chiara that makes her a target?
Do the rumored efforts to barge nuclear waste across the Great Lakes enter into this picture? What about the Abramoff scandal, and its impact on several of Michigan's members of Congress and the Saginaw Chippewa tribe? Or was this merely bench clearing to deepen the farm team of future federal judges that may be selected from USA's with a couple years of DOJ experience under the belts, should the next administration be Republican (Heaven forbid)?
There are a few more rumors swirling out there that have less meat on them; if you know of them, please feel free to drop a note in comments and let's compare notes.
[cross-posted at ePluribusMedia.org, MichiganLiberal.com and DailyKos.com]